The Reading Wheel Review

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 20 | Interview with Luke Sheahan | The Social Philosophers Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, CRCD Executive Director Dr. Jordan Ballor interviews Dr. Luke C. Sheahan, associate professor of political science at Duquesne University. They discuss Robert Nisbet's classic work The Social Philosophers: Community and Conflict in Western Thought. This wide-ranging conversation reviews Nisbet's significant life and work, and examines his exploration of different types of community throughout Western civilization, as well as its relevance for today.

Ep. 19 | Interview with Melissa Moschella | Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

In this edition of the Reading Wheel Review, Dr. Jordan Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, interviews Dr. Melissa Moschella, professor of the practice of philosophy at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. They discuss Dr. Moschella’s recent book, Ethics, Politics, and Natural Law: Principles for Human Flourishing, which serves as an introduction to the school of thought known as “new natural law” and covers topics related to personal virtue as well as social life.

Addendum | Interview with Hunter Baker | Postliberal Protestants Jul 31, 2025

Show notes

In this addendum edition of the Reading Wheel Review, Dr. Jordan Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy, interviews Dr. Hunter Baker, who serves as provost and dean of the faculty at North Greenville University as well as a senior fellow at the CRCD. They discuss Dr. Baker’s recent book, Postliberal Protestants: Baptists between Obergefell and Christian Nationalism, the challenges to religious liberty today, and the prospects for a renewed commitment to America’s founding ideals.

Ep. 18 | Interview with Miles Smith | Religion and Republic Jul 24, 2025

Show notes

In this edition of the Reading Wheel Review podcast, Dr. Jordan Ballor, executive director of First Liberty’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy, interviews Miles Smith, an assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College and author of Religion & Republic: Christian America from the Founding to the Civil War. The place of religion in public life in America’s Early Republic was a complicated and contested reality, and Smith’s volume helps unpack the complexity of what he calls “Christian institutionalism,” between disestablishment and secularism.

Ep. 17 | Interview with Jeff Mateer | To Kill a Mockingbird Jun 26, 2025

Show notes

This month marks the 65th anniversary of the original publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. On this episode, First Liberty’s Chief Legal Officer Jeff Mateer joins Dr. Jordan Ballor, executive director of the CRCD, to discuss the book's important themes, lessons, and inspiration, as well as its impact on Jeff personally.

Recent Publications:

Adam MacLeod, “A Charity Case,” Law & Liberty
Trey Dimsdale, “Fight for the First Amendment,” Religion & Liberty Online
Hunter Baker, “A collision of American lives,” WORLD Opinions

Upcoming Events:

Shaftesbury Fellowship (May 19-July 25, 2025)
FLI Educational Tour: Boston (July 3-7, 2025)
Religious Liberty in the States 2025 Launch (July 14, 2025)

Ep. 16 | Interview with Stephen Presley | Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church May 29, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, we engage with Dr. Stephen Presley’s Biblical Theology in the Life of the Early Church: Recovering an Ancient Vision. Dr. Presley is director of education and engagement as well as senior fellow for religion & public life at the CRCD. He is also professor of church history at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his latest book serves as a kind of prequel to his earlier book, Cultural Sanctification, which was featured in the April 2024 edition of the Reading Wheel Review. This week, Dr. Presley joins CRCD executive director Dr. Jordan Ballor to talk about the role of Scripture in the early church, and how the Bible shaped the Christian life in the ancient world. There is much that separates us from the world of the church fathers, but Dr. Presley argues that there is much that we can learn from an approach to the Bible that views it as the life-giving, authoritative word of God that shapes our lives in service of God.

Ep. 15 | Interview with John D. Wilsey | Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer Apr 24, 2025

Show notes

In this month’s episode of the Reading Wheel Review, Dr. John D. Wilsey, a senior fellow at the CRCD and professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, sits down with the CRCD’s director of research Dr. Jordan Ballor to discuss some of the key features of his recent book, Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer. Conservatism is a contested perspective these days, and one that is often contrasted with liberalism. But as we will learn throughout the course of this discussion, understanding the right relationship between order and liberty is essential to defending a truly principled conservatism and religious freedom. Dr. John Wilsey’s primer is a worthwhile starting point for this endeavor.

Ep. 14 | Interview with Gerald McDermott | Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide Feb 20, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Trey Dimsdale talks with Gerald McDermott about his book, Deep Anglicanism: A Brief Guide.

Ep. 13 | Interview with Bryan T. McGraw, Jesse Covington, and Micah J. Watson | Hopeful Realism Jan 23, 2025

Show notes

In this episode, Trey Dimsdale talks with Bryan T. McGraw, Jesse Covington, and Micah J. Watson about their book, Hopeful Realism: Evangelical Natural Law and Democratic Politics.

Ep. 12 | Interview with Catherine Ruth Pakaluk | Hannah's Children Dec 26, 2024

Show notes

In this final issue of the inaugural year of the Reading Wheel Review, CRCD executive director Trey Dimsdale interviews Dr. Catherine Ruth Pakaluk, a Harvard-trained economist and professor at the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America and a senior fellow at the CRCD. They discuss Pakaluk’s book, Hannah’s Children: The Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth, as well as its reception and its resonance with her own experience as the mother of eight, step-mother to six, and grandmother to 29.

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